Archive for
March 20th, 2009

Phoenix Suns guard Leandro Barbosa suffered a left tibial bone bruise in the Suns’ victory Wednesday over the Philadelphia 76ers. He sustained the injury with 26.3 seconds remaining the first quarter of that contest.

Barbosa is expected to miss 1-3 weeks beginning tomorrow night, Saturday, March 21, against the Washington Wizards at US Airways Center.

The Chicago Bulls announced today they have re-signed forward Linton Johnson III to a second 10-day contract. Johnson, a 6-8, 205-pound forward, originally signed a 10-day contract with the Bulls on March 10, 2009.

In two appearances with Chicago, Johnson has averaged 1.50 rpg in 7.0 mpg. In his second tour with the Bulls, the Chicago native is currently in his sixth season out of Tulane.

The Boston Celtics announced today that they have reassigned rookie guard J.R. Giddens to their NBA Development League affiliate Utah Flash. This is the third time this season that Giddens has been assigned to Utah.

Giddens has appeared six games this season for the Celtics scoring four points in eight total minutes. Giddens has averaged 17.6 points, 5.7 rebounds, 1.27 steals and 1.40 blocks per game in 15 games for the Flash this season.

Morgan State basketball player Ameer Ali grabbed Oklahoma star Blake Griffin’s arm, pulled him and completely flipped him onto his back. It was a disgusting, cheap play from a player who scores under 3 points per game and is lucky to even be near a talent like Griffin. Here’s the video:

The Washington Post (Michael Lee) reports: Oklahoma Coach Jeff Capel was a bit fired up after Morgan State’s Ameer Ali flipped Griffin with 7 minutes 41 seconds to play on Thursday. Griffin popped up and refused to retaliate. Ali was ejected. “I couldn’t do it,” Capel said after the game. “When I was his age, no way I was able to handle that. It shows how smart he is. He understands why people are doing these things. I don’t think it was intentional, but it was something bad that happened. “Those kinds of things upset me. I know [Morgan State] coach Todd Bozeman doesn’t teach his kids to do that. I hope it was inadvertent. It upsets me. He gets hit like that all time, and it’s not called. I know he is a difficult guy to officiate. You have to be physical with him because he’s so physical. It’s borderline ridiculous. For me it’s scary and [ticks] me off, to be honest with you.”

The AP reports: After giving up leads of 15 points and 14 points in their previous two games, the Los Angeles Lakers came within a 3-point miss by Kelenna Azubuike of squandering an 18-point advantage to the Golden State Warriors. The Lakers held on for a 114-106 victory Thursday night as Kobe Bryant and Pau Gasol each scored 21 points to help complete Los Angeles’ third four-game season sweep of the Warriors in four years… Thursday’s victory was the Lakers’ 31st at home, eclipsing last season’s total, and kept them a full game behind Cleveland for the NBA’s best record and homecourt advantage throughout the playoffs with 14 games remaining. Monta Ellis scored 27 points and Azubuike added 25 for the Warriors, who have lost 19 of their last 22 meetings with the Lakers and are 2-18 at Staples Center since the arena opened in 1999.

The AP reports: Despite getting his 24th career triple-double, LeBron James was more impressed by the Cleveland Cavaliers tying the NBA record for fewest turnovers. James had 26 points, 11 rebounds and 10 assists to lead the Cavaliers to a 97-92 overtime victory against the Portland Trail Blazers on Thursday night. Cleveland committed only two turnovers, setting a franchise record and matching the mark set by Milwaukee against Indiana on April 1, 2006… Ilgauskas finished with 21 points… James scored twice late in regulation to give Cleveland an 86-82 lead, but Brandon Roy, who led Portland with 24 points, hit four free throws in the final 34 seconds—the last two coming with 3.4 seconds left—to tie the game.

The AP reports: Joe Johnson scored 24 points, and reserve Flip Murray had 19 in the Atlanta Hawks’ seventh straight victory, 95-87 over the Dallas Mavericks on Thursday night… Dirk Nowitzki scored 23 points and 12 rebounds, but he and Terry combined to go just 2-for-10 in the fourth quarter. The Mavs finished 6-for-31 on 3-point attempts, including a combined 0-for-8 in the final period from Terry and Jason Kidd… Dallas was without two starters, swingman Josh Howard, who has a sore left ankle, and forward Erick Dampier, who has a swollen left knee and missed his first game of the season.